Nine killed in Israel raids on Gaza

GAZA CITY: Nine Palestinians were killed on Wednesday as Israel launched twin offensives in the Gaza Strip, triggering the deadliest violence since Hamas fighters overran the territory 12 days ago. The violence comes amid a renewed push for peace and mounting speculation that outgoing British Prime minister Tony Blair will be named special envoy by the international Middle East Quartet. Israeli tanks and bulldozers rolled into Gaza City and the southern town of Khan Yunis in simultaneous, albeit limited, incursions launched overnight that swiftly sparked clashes with Palestinian fighters. The army said the activity was against terror threats in Gaza, where Hamas fighters overran security forces loyal to Abbas on June 15, effectively creating an Islamic enclave on Israel s doorstep. Medics said nine Palestinians were killed, including three fighters in the armed Islamic Jihad and Hamas factions, one of them a local militant leader in Gaza City. Jihad s armed Al-Quds Brigades named the dead militant leader as Raid Faanuna, saying he was killed in an Israeli air strike. Medical sources said his body was totally burnt after being hit in his car but the Israeli military flatly denied that any air strikes were called in. An Apache gunship helicopter swooped in the sky to the sound of heavy shooting and periodic explosions while Israeli soldiers patrolled rooftops and Palestinian fighters ran through the streets, witnesses said. Twenty Palestinians, including seven in critical condition, were rushed to hospital in Gaza City. In the south, two fighters from the Al-Quds Brigades and Hamas s armed Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades were killed in clashes with Israelis in Khan Yunis. Another two Palestinians were wounded. There is activity in the area of Gaza City and the area of Khan Yunis, an Israeli army spokesman confirmed to AFP. In the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinians fired anti-tank missiles and opened fire at the IDF forces there which are operating against terror threats. During exchange of fire, the force identified hitting two, he added. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces were routed by Hamas in Gaza after days of vicious bloodletting, has banned the carrying of weapons and explosives in public without permits, effectively calling all armed groups to disarm. But his writ is effectively limited to the West Bank where his Western-backed emergency government is based, with the Palestinians now split into two entities, one under his jurisdiction and Gaza controlled by Hamas. The violence came as envoys pressed a diplomatic agenda after Abbas met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert face-to-face for the first time since the Hamas seizure at a regional summit hosted by Egypt on Monday. Olmert told the four-way summit with Egypt and Jordan he was prepared to free 250 prisoners from Abbas s Fatah party and that Israel would pass on tax money collected on behalf of the Palestinians. Israel froze such transfers – amounting to several hundred million dollars – for 15 months while Hamas-led governments were in power, but agreed to lift the embargo in principle after Abbas set up his emergency cabinet. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia, one of the four international sponsors of the stalled Middle East process, was on Wednesday scheduled to meet Olmert before holding talks with Abbas. On Tuesday, envoys from the Quartet – the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States – met in Jerusalem to discuss latest developments in the Middle East although there was no confirmation of Blair s appointment. However, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said on Wednesday that Blair had told him he was going to take the post. Israel sealed Gaza off from the outside world after its seizure by Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, raising alarm about the impact on its largely impoverished 1.5 million residents. There is a real risk that Gaza will begin to look like a citadel under siege, where the civilian population is trapped and even basic needs cannot be met, warned EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel on Tuesday. Palestinian newspapers printed in Jerusalem and the West Bank, however, were brought to Gaza on Wednesday for the first time since the armed takeover.